(with assists from Jonathan Allen, John Bresnahan and Kevin Robillard)

SUPERCOMMITTE CENTRAL -- With still no deal in place, speculation will ramp up this week about whether the deficit-cutting panel is heading for compromise or fiscal calamity. The supercommittee now has just 17 days to propose at least $1.2 trillion in cuts, though some members of the group are facing greater pressures than others.

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-- POLITICO’s Alex Isenstadt points out that Rep. Fred Upton is the only member of the supercommittee who faces a competitive election next year. “The ferocious yearlong debate over the nation’s fiscal woes has put Rep. Fred Upton in the political crosshairs, with attacks coming from all sides. Liberals castigate the Michigan Republican as a tool of corporate interests hellbent on eliminating entitlements while protecting the rich from tax increases. Conservatives torch him as a closet liberal who isn’t on board with the GOP’s single-minded push to slash federal spending,” Isenstadt writes. “As one of 12 members on the high-powered, deficit-cutting supercommittee, Upton has been thrust into the national spotlight. But the stakes are decidedly higher for him than for the other lawmakers on the committee. None of the panel’s six senators will face reelection in 2012, and unlike Upton, none of the other five House members occupy districts that are even remotely competitive.” http://politi.co/uduk8Q

A LOOK AT THE SUPERCOMMITTEE FROM THE RIGHT -- Stephen Moore, an editor on the Wall Street Journal’s op-ed page (and a former president of the Club for Growth), takes a look at the supercommittee’s progress in a column: “Insiders on the panel say that the deal being offered by Democrats is less than $1 of spending cuts for every $1 of new taxes. Democrats want to count the $900 billion of discretionary spending cuts already agreed to in the debt bill and $1 trillion in troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and Iraq, which may not happen. Meanwhile they are insisting on close to $1.2 trillion of tax increases in exchange for less than $1 trillion in entitlement reforms. … One positive development on taxes taking shape is a deal that could include limiting tax deductions, perhaps by capping write-offs on charities, state and local taxes, and mortgage interest payments as a percentage of each tax filer's gross income … In exchange, Democrats would agree to make the Bush income-tax cuts permanent.”

WHAT TO CHOP? PANETTA EXPLORING OPTIONS -- The Defense Secretary outlines what might have to go in an interview with the New York Times’ Thom Shanker and Elisabeth Bumiller: “He said that meeting deficit-reduction targets might require another round of base closings, which could be highly contentious as members of Congress routinely fight to protect military deployments and jobs in their communities. Among other steps, Mr. Panetta said, Pentagon strategists were looking at additional cuts in the nuclear arsenal … Mr. Panetta also held out the possibility of cutting the number of American troops based in Europe, with the United States compensating for any withdrawal by helping NATO allies improve their militaries. … Mr. Panetta said the Pentagon was considering raising fees for the military’s health insurance program, Tricare. … Mr. Panetta said he was considering cutting the purchases of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a radar-evading jet for the Air Force, Navy and Marines that is projected to cost nearly $400 billion for more than 2,400 planes over the next two decades.”

-- What won’t get cut? The “areas that have redefined the American way of war in recent years. They include cyberoffense and defense, unmanned aircraft, known as drones, and Special Operations forces — like those who killed Osama bin Laden and who also train foreign militaries to battle insurgencies so the United States does not have to.” http://nyti.ms/vXf7mD

NO TRIGGER ROLLBACK -- Roll Call’s Meredith Shiner explains why, if no supercommittee deal is reached, automatic defense cuts are still likely: “Even Republican leadership sources suggested that getting another bill affecting the federal budget through the House would be difficult, especially if it adds more to the deficit by not being offset. These same sources concede there is not much left in the domestic discretionary spending pot to cut. … Moreover, if legislation rolling back the cuts were to clear Congress, it is unlikely President Barack Obama would sign it. Republicans have said they believe fighting to roll back the cuts would be a good message in an election year, cementing their party's place as the protectors of the military and national security. But this position now stands in contrast to the GOP's goal of deficit reduction — and that's a point Democrats are prepared to hammer home if Republicans push forward with repeal.” http://bit.ly/vO0S4B

IRAN’S NUCLEAR THREAT -- Expect Capitol Hill to react with unease this morning to a front-page story in the Washington Post that Iran is at the threshold of nuclear capability. “Intelligence provided to U.N. nuclear officials shows that Iran’s government has mastered the critical steps needed to build a nuclear weapon, receiving assistance from foreign scientists to overcome key technical hurdles, according to Western diplomats and nuclear experts briefed on the findings,” writes The Post’s Joby Warrick. “Documents and other records provide new details on the role played by a former Soviet weapons scientist who allegedly tutored Iranians over several years on building high-precision detonators of the kind used to trigger a nuclear chain reaction, the officials and experts said. Crucial technology linked to experts in Pakistan and North Korea also helped propel Iran to the threshold of nuclear capability, they added.” http://wapo.st/s7eoZL

TOP HOYER AIDE K STREET BOUND -- Stacey Farnen Bernards, a top aide to House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), is leaving Capitol Hill next week to become vice president for government affairs at Honeywell International, the manufacturing and technology conglomerate, John Bresnahan reports for POLITICO. “Bernards is a near-constant presence at Hoyer's side, and the two have an extremely close personal relationship.”

“Bernard started as Hoyer's press secretary in 2001 after stints with former Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.) and a public-relations firm. When Hoyer became House minority whip in 2003, Bernards moved over to the leadership office. After Democrats won control of the House in 2006, Bernards was promoted to senior advisor and communications director in the majority leader's office. In 2009, Bernards became Hoyer's deputy chief of staff.”

-- Hoyer offers praise. “For the past 11 years, Stacey has been an integral part of my staff and a tremendous asset to the Democratic Caucus,” Hoyer said in a statement. “Her knowledge of policy, the Hill, and the media have made her extremely effective in forming Democratic strategy and in advancing our positions and goals. I want to thank her for her years of service, and I wish her all the best as she begins this new chapter of her career.”

SITTING OUT THE ENDORSEMENT GAME -- “This year, the sidelines are packed with Republicans who are steering clear of the endorsement game even though their states are expected to play an outsized role in choosing the nominee,” Jake Sherman and Manu Raju write for POLITICO. “A look around the members of Congress from Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina shows an indecisive — or even indifferent — bunch of lawmakers who see an unsettled presidential field and are deciding they could spend their time better elsewhere.”

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) is “looking at the GOP presidential field and thinking about sitting it out. ‘It’s increasingly unlikely I’m going to endorse, but I want to … think it through,’ he told POLITICO. ‘I’m coming to the conclusion I could be more helpful focused on the Senate Conservatives Fund and not getting over-involved in a presidential race.’” http://politi.co/ueppGK

-- Speaker John Boehner has no plans to pick a horse either. “There are a lot of good candidates that are out there running. My focus is on the Congress of the United States and trying to get our economy going again and producing jobs,” he said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “I'm sure Republican voters around the country will choose a good candidate. And our – whatever candidate they choose, I'm going to support.” http://politi.co/viUjwF

WARREN PART OF 1 PERCENT – “Elizabeth Warren may have embraced the Occupy Wall Street movement and the ‘99 percent’ crowd, but public records reveal the liberal firebrand belongs to the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans,” I write for the hometown paper. “Her financial well-being will likely hand conservatives a new line of attack against the consumer advocate and Democratic Senate hopeful in Massachusetts who has fired up the left and was labeled by one columnist as ‘the first candidate of the Occupy Wall Street movement.’ Warren earned nearly $535,000 in 2009, including $310,000 for teaching law at Harvard University, according to financial disclosure reports she had to file as a political appointee of President Barack Obama. She took home $507,000 in 2010. Neither of those figures included the salary of her husband, fellow Harvard law professor Bruce Mann, or the $192,722 Warren earned between 2009 and 2010 for chairing the congressional panel tasked with overseeing the bank bailouts. The totals also did not include the roughly $138,000 she earned between September 2010 and July 2011 while launching the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to separate salary records obtained by POLITICO. The Cambridge couple reported at least $4.6 million in financial investments and property.

“Warren backers note that some of the richest members of Congress have often been the most outspoken advocates for the poor and middle class, including the late liberal Sen. Ted Kennedy, whose seat Warren is seeking to reclaim for Democrats after Brown won it in a 2010 upset. ’Elizabeth came up the hard way and knows the struggles that families face because she lived them,” said her spokesman, Kyle Sullivan. ‘Her life’s work has centered on listening to people, understanding the economic pressures holding them back and pulling them under,” Sullivan added. “And from that understanding, she has taken on Wall Street and the big banks to make a difference in the lives of middle-class families.’” http://politi.co/uxdyqy

GOOD MONDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 7, 2011, and welcome to The Huddle, where I’ll be pinch-hitting for the next two weeks, getting used to super early mornings and hoping you remembered to fall back one hour. Please send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to swong@politico.com, sherman@politico.com or jallen@politico.com. If you don't already, please follow me on Twitter @scottwongDC. Jake is @jakesherman, Jon is @jonallendc and Robillard is @PoliticoKevin. New followers include, but are not limited to @DanielJMartin_ and @alisonedye.

AROUND THE HILL -- The House is on recess this week and meets in a pro forma session at 10 a.m. The Senate is back at 2 p.m. and holds a key procedural vote at 5:30 p.m. on H.R. 674, the House-passed bill that would repeal the rule requiring governments to withhold 3 percent of large contractor payments. Republicans have urged the Democratic-controlled Senate to pass the legislation, which is part of President Barack Obama’s American Jobs Act. But Senate Democrats have said they’ll try to amend the bill by attaching a jobs bill that would incentivize businesses to hire unemployed and disabled veterans. http://politi.co/t3Y6Fd

PELOSI, WALKING -- The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer goes on a “power walk” with the House minority leader, and files a mini-profile: “Instead of carrying weights when she walks, Pelosi, who is seventy-one, carries an iPhone—and uses it incessantly. During her forty-five-minute walk, she plans her day, touches base with her staff, makes thank-you calls to donors, and keeps up with overnight developments. … She believes that Obama is in better shape than the polls indicate. ‘The Republicans are helping him a lot,” she said. ‘The extremists—I don’t like to even use that word—those Republicans going too far, sort of stir up the Democratic base, and point out the urgency.’” http://nyr.kr/rzuZlX

EX-PELOSI AIDE REPRESENTING HEALTH CARE LAW FOES? -- “Even by the revolving-door standards of Washington, this one has heads spinning: The Democratic staffer who was Nancy Pelosi’s messaging guru during the health care debate is now working for a group led by the law’s most powerful opponents,” reports POLITICO’s Matt DoBias.

“Brendan Daly left his job as Pelosi’s communications director in December and took a job as executive vice president and national director for public affairs at Ogilvy Washington, where he’s now representing a group called the Essential Health Benefits Coalition. Daly says he hasn’t switched sides. The Essential Health Benefits Coalition, he says, is simply trying to make the law more affordable — which is critical to making sure the law is a success. But the group’s members include a veritable who’s who of reform-law opponents.” http://politi.co/uz79XZ

‘ONE YEAR OUT’ TIL ELECTION DAY – It’s no secret Pelosi wants her old job back. The former speaker emailed supporters Sunday, asking them to help push Democrats over their $100,000 fundraising goal to help kick off their “One Year Out” campaign and take back the House. Democrats need $14,253 more, she said.

“We have unstoppable momentum. We have outstanding candidates. And, with your generous support, we have put the House in play. Just 25 seats stand between us and our Democratic Majority,” Pelosi wrote on behalf of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The media and grassroots campaign will “hold Tea Party Republicans accountable for their radical agenda … The American people have had enough of Tea Party Republicans. Buyer's remorse has set in. It's time for Tea Party Republicans to go. Join with me now and, together, we will restore our Democratic Majority one year from tonight.”

WHERE’S WEINER? -- The New York Times’ Laura Holson reports on a new favorite game of New Yorkers: spot the disgraced congressman. “Mr. Weiner’s movements have been tracked as if he were Lindsay Lohan or Paris Hilton. Two weeks ago, he was seen with Ms. Abedin by two fellow diners at Hill Country, a barbecue restaurant on West 26th Street, both of whom later tweeted about it. Another poster found him working out at the New York Health & Racquet Club on Park Avenue South. Sidewalk spottings are tweeted with regularity and relish. … Strolling with his wife in the Montmartre district of Paris or shopping for groceries on Long Island have all been deemed newsworthy events by gossip sites like Gawker and Radar Online. … So far, Mr. Weiner seems to be staying close to Gramercy Park and the Flatiron neighborhoods near where former colleagues say he and Ms. Abedin share an apartment. The exact location remains a bit of a guessing game among the media. He was overheard at one party joking that he had told various people different locations ‘to see if they were leaking to the press,’ said someone who was there but did not want to be identified.” http://nyti.ms/rHLKNj

-- Note to reporters: Want to talk to Weiner? Try in five months: Mr. Weiner, 47, who was the representative for New York State’s Ninth Congressional District for 12 years, declined to be interviewed for this article — waving away a reporter at the hockey rink with the words, ‘I don’t have time for this tonight’ adding, ‘Find me in, like, March.’ But friends and former colleagues say the energetic and social Mr. Weiner is unlikely to remain cooped up as he seeks to rebuild his life.”

BIPARTISANSHIP ALIVE AND WELL – For those of you who missed this in Playbook, Ben Marter, communications director for Rep. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), and Jean Carroll, committee operations director for House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), tied the knot Saturday in Washington. Ben’s previous boss, former congresswoman and current Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Betsy Markey (D-Colo.) was in attendance. The couple met playing softball on a U.S. House league team. He popped the question on top of the Capitol dome as the sun set behind the Washington Monument. She replied, “Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!” Close friend James Gleeson emails: “It’s a prime example that bipartisanship is alive and well on Capitol Hill!”

IF YOU WORK FOR AMODEI IN D.C., YOU AREN’T FROM NEVADA -- Ray Hagar reports for the Reno Gazette-Journal: GOP Rep. Mark Amodei, “in office after a special election victory in September, is the only member of Nevada's congressional delegation without any Nevadans on their Washington, D.C., staffs, according to a check of Nevada delegation offices. The three 2nd District representatives before Amodei -- going back to U.S. Rep. Barbara Vucanovich in 1982 -- all had at least one Nevadan on staff when taking office … ‘If anyone is asking why there aren't any Nevadans, well, first of all, we did not get a single application from Nevada to work back there,’ Amodei said of his Washington, D.C., office. ‘So even if we wanted to hire one, we would be waiting for one to apply. We didn't turn a single Nevadan down who applied for a job in Washington.’” Amodei also said his intern program would only hire Nevadans, and that his state-based staff was entirely Nevadan. http://on.rgj.com/va0BsW

CODE RED INK – Republicans launch a new website today tracking for the next two weeks where Democrats stand on the balanced budget amendment. The site, coderedink.com, is modeled after the GOP’s Code Red site during the health care debate. Voters will be able to upload video messages urging Democrats to back a BBA. “For years, Democrats in Washington, D.C. have embraced an agenda of irresponsible spending and placed the burden of their mistakes on people like you,” Rep. Pete Sessions, chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee, wrote in an email to supports announcing the site. “Now more than ever, we need a Balanced Budget Amendment to get back on track.”

UNEMPLOYMENT BATTLE BREWING? -- “Advocates of reauthorizing the program feel confident that a yearlong extension will get tucked into one of several different bills that could pass by year's end — a supercommittee budget deal or a tax extenders bill that would renew the Medicare 'doc fix' along with other expiring program provisions,” Vicki Needham writes for The Hill. “Without hitching a ride on one of those vehicles, the measure may have to fly solo, likely igniting a heated battle between Democrats and Republicans, inevitably pushing the fight to the brink of expiration.” http://bit.ly/vc4eUK

-- “The jobs crisis has left so many people out of work for so long that most of America’s unemployed are no longer receiving unemployment benefits,” the Associated Press’ Christopher Rugaber writes. “Early last year, 75 percent were receiving checks. The figure is now 48 percent — a shift that points to a growing crisis of long-term unemployment. Nearly one-third of America’s 14 million unemployed have had no job for a year or more.” http://bit.ly/sfTZtE

TODAY’S TRIVIA -- Before Herman Cain stormed onto the presidential stage, he was best known as the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza. What freshman House member is also best known for his ties to the pizza business?

First to answer correctly gets a mention in tomorrow’s Huddle. Email me at swong@politico.com. There was no trivia question last Friday.

THE ‘SKINS’ LINE -- They fell to the San Francisco 49ers 19-11 at FedEx Field, giving my hometown team their sixth win in a row and the most consecutive wins since 1997. The Redskins take on the Miami Dolphins next week.

TODAY’S WEATHER -- There will be some early fog breaking into a mostly sunny day with highs in the low 60s, according to ABC7’s Brian van de Graaff.

** A message from the Stop The HIT Coalition: The Health Insurance Tax (HIT) drives up health care costs for small businesses, seniors, state Medicaid programs and middle-income Americans. The HIT is estimated to cost hardworking American families an additional $5,000 over a decade. And since the cost and consequences of the HIT increase over time, America’s small businesses and hardworking families are facing a bigger HIT every year. This translates to real jobs for businesses and real wages for families. That’s why the Stop The HIT Coalition – representing the nation’s small business owners and their employees – is working hard to repeal the HIT before it causes even more damage. Congress, please stop the HIT. Once and for all. http://bit.ly/1iE6tfW **

Authors:

About The Author

Scott Wong covers transportation for POLITICO Pro, and authors The Huddle, POLITICO’s popular morning tipsheet on Congress. He was a congressional reporter with the publication from 2010 to 2012.

He reported from Tucson, Ariz., after the deadly shooting rampage that severely injured Rep. Gabby Giffords and helped break a story about Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill’s private plane that led to her admission she owed more than $300,000 in state property taxes.

He got his professional start in journalism covering local government for two small newspapers in his native San Francisco Bay Area. He later became a staff writer for The Arizona Republic, where he covered the Arizona statehouse and Phoenix City Hall.

After graduating from UCLA, he spent a year teaching English in a rural mountain village in Japan. He is a member of the Asian American Journalists Association, and lives with his wife and daughter in Washington.